1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clips, and particularly to a clip for holding in place an air conditioning vent in a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
As an automobile grows older, frequent maintenance of the automobile and replacement of the automobile parts becomes more and more necessary. While many people are willing to invest time and money in repairing and replacing parts which are vital to the functioning and safety of the automobile, many fail to keep up with the maintenance of less significant automobile parts, primarily because of the associated costs. Air vents in automobiles, for example, are generally the first of such parts to become defective. Vents in automobiles have air direction deflectors or louver blades on a rotor which are rotatable about a vertical or horizontal axis for discharge of air at selected angles. As a result of wear of the bearings and vibrations due to travel, the rotors eventually become loose and tend to shift from a selected position. Replacing or repairing a defective vent may be labor intensive and costly. Consequently, an inexpensive device which prevents displacement of the rotor without requiring repair or replacement of the vent would be desirable. There has been very little advancement towards this end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,625, issued Mar. 3, 1987 to R. Schroeder, discloses a spring clip which is adapted to fit in the gap between the rotor and housing of an automobile ventilation duct to secure the louvers in a fixed position. The spring clip has opposed spring leaves forming a wedge and outturned handles which protrude from the vent to facilitate manipulation. The handles, while useful for inserting and removing the spring clip, are obtrusive and likely to be dislocated if other items in the car are inadvertently brought into contact with them.
Other patents relating to vents and vent clips include U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,550, issued Nov. 25, 1997 to M. Mikowski (outlet assembly for directing air in a plurality of directions as used particularly in vehicles); U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,653, issued May 9, 2000 to T. Gehring et al. (air outlet assemblies having a controlled effort generation between a boss and a boss retention device as they are employed in air outlet assemblies for motor vehicles); U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,887, issued Jul. 24, 2001 to M. Farmer (a clip device adapted to be connected to an air vent fin for allowing perfumed materials to the surrounding air of a vehicle); German patent 3,916,541, published Nov. 22, 1990 (air vent which is held in place by spring clip); and French patent 2,756,184, published May 29, 1998 (air freshener with clip on back for fastening to fins of an air vent).
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The clip to hold in place air conditioning vents in vehicles is an arcuate device adapted to snap onto the shaft between the end wall of the rotor and the end wall of the housing in an air conditioning vent. The clip is substantially V-shaped, having two diagonally opposed sides which are integrally connected at one end to form a closed portion and diverge outwardly at their opposing ends to form an open portion. The clip also has a convex surface and a concave surface. When the clip is mounted in the vent, the concave surface faces the end wall of the housing and the convex surface faces the end wall of the rotor. The open portion is adapted to receive and envelop the vent shaft. The clip""s curvature is adapted to allow the spaced sides to frictionally engage the end wall of the housing and the convex surface to frictionally engage the end wall of the rotor. Once mounted in the vent, the clip positively positions the rotor at a selected angle.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to position the rotor of a defective automobile air conditioning vent at a desired angle without having to repair or replace the vent.
It is another object of the invention to provide a clip to hold in place the rotor of an automobile air conditioning vent.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a clip to hold in place air conditioning vents in vehicles which can be easily installed and removed.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a clip to hold in place air conditioning vents in vehicles which is not obtrusive when mounted in the dashboard.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.